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Five men have been arrested for an attempt to smuggle cocaine worth £ 1 million into Northern Ireland.
Police detained three men in the Essex area and two more in North Wales. At the same time, three trucks were seized.
They are believed to have been involved in the importation of Class A drugs from the continent, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Four men are known to be based in Northern Ireland, the other is from the North of England. They are between 21 and 59 years old.
NCA Regional Head of Investigations Gerry McLean said: “This is a very significant operation in terms of our activity to target organized crime impacting Northern Ireland.
“By making these seizures we have prevented a large quantity of drugs from reaching our streets and have denied criminals an important avenue for smuggling.”
Specialized Border Force officers were called in to conduct detailed searches of the heavy vehicles after the seizures on Thursday.
In one, a complex cache was located, which once opened was found to contain around 21 kilos of cocaine.
Agents from the NCA and the Northern Ireland Police Service conducted searches on various properties in Northern Ireland.
The investigation has also been supported throughout by the Irish police and the Northern Ireland Organized Crime Task Force.
The five men were questioned by NCA agents and have been released on bail.
Detective Superintendent Rachel Shields of PSNI’s criminal investigation branch said: “Our detectives have been working collaboratively with the NCA in connection with this operation for some time.
“These arrests and seizures are important in terms of the amount seized and in terms of the disruption caused to organized crime.
“We will continue to work closely with the NCA and support their work to disrupt the nefarious activities of organized crime groups.”
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